Spring Photo Journal – Falling in Love with the World

Quote of the day:  “The longer I live the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and wonder of the world… I have loved the feel of the grass under my feet, and the sound of the running streams by my side. … I am in love with this world … I have climbed its mountains, roamed its forests, sailed its waters, crossed its deserts, felt the sting of its frosts, the oppression of its heats, the drench of its rains, the fury of its winds, and always have beauty and joy waited upon my goings and comings.”― John Burroughs

Photography Class Photo Walk – Finding Beauty

Falling in Love With the World

Last night I taught the first class in an eight-week series called Photography as Spiritual Practice. I created the class because I found such beauty and wonder in the world when I started looking through the lens of a camera.

One of the first things I did that led to my falling in love with the world, was a 30-day practice of taking one photo a day of something I was grateful for.  Each day I picked up my camera and went looking for something I was grateful for. And each day I found more and more to be grateful for!

Ferns Unfurling

I found it difficult to choose just one thing to photograph; there were so many things I was grateful for.

Then I began noticing beauty everywhere I went—in the color of the sky, the shapes of the clouds, a leaf, a flower, a shadow, a reflection—it didn’t matter where I looked, beauty was there.

That’s where the name of this blog and my Etsy shop came from—Chased by Beauty—because everywhere I go, I feel as if I am being chased by beauty.

Finding beauty in a puddle beneath my feet

Seeing beauty in the world doesn’t mean shutting your eyes to suffering or pain or bad things.

It just means that I fill myself with what sustains me; I focus on what is good, and do what I can to change the bad stuff. And I trust that the beauty and the wonder far outweigh the suffering.

Sometimes, I read about things or see things that fill me with wonder. Just now, I’m reading the book Waking by Matthew Sanford. At the age of 13 his life was irrevocably changed on a snowy Iowa road. Traveling home from a Thanksgiving celebration with family in Kansas City, his family’s car skidded off an overpass, killing Matthew’s father and sister and leaving him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.

Little Green Things Growing

As I read his unflinching narrative of the months after the accident, the immensity of his suffering takes my breath away. And at the same time the hugeness of the human spirit to find meaning in life gives me wings.

Matthew discovered or created healing stories that led him to study yoga and become a yoga teacher. His yoga studio, Mind Body Solutions is right across the street from the food coop where I shop.

Here is a sample video of Matthew teaching about grounding from the On Being Blog:

[ylwm_vimeo]41775665[/ylwm_vimeo]

Matthew teaches and speaks internationally. His non-profit foundation helps disabled people discover mind-body wholeness. Against all odds, Matthew survived a life-changing accident and learned to thrive and to make a positive difference in the world.

His story of his healing journey and his work to teach yoga to students of all abilities (disabled or not) inspire me to continue to do the work I’m doing, to continue seeing beauty, feeling gratitude, finding wonder, and showing others how they too can see beauty, feel gratitude, and find wonder in their world.

How about you? Are you ready to see more beauty, feel more gratitude, find more wonder in your life? Figure out what lights you up and find a way to do it, whether it’s making photos, painting pictures, dancing, or singing.  Fall in love with the world a little bit more each day!

The path leads ever forward

Along the path